Dear Doreen,

Yes there is provision for households to upgrade and construct sanitation facilities.
The approach uses a peer support mechanism and so neighbors encourage each other to improve the WASH conditions in their neighborhood. Ground Experience shows through this approach the elderly were supported to construct sanitation facilities even schools within a given neighborhood gained support from the neighborhood units in their localities. Where neighbors were just adamant about improving their sanitation facilities the units became pressure groups that engaged local leaders to ensure one of their own did the right thing. JESE and HEWASA have testimonies of that from the Simavi WASH and Learn program interventions.

I hope this answers you questions and hope it's an approach you could adopt

Kind regards,

Linda Lilian
Team Leader
Cause Effect Initiative Limited

Dear Linda,

Many thanks for the information.

Within the Nyumba Kumi approach, is there provision to also support the households to upgrade/construct sanitation facilities?

Thanks and best regards, Doreen.

Dear Abgail

Nice experience....and sustainable too

Dear Charlotte

Thanks for your response.

Yes JESE and HEWASA are still applying the approach and the communities that implemented it we're built into self sustaining units of production. This means the neighborhoods got to engage income generating activities that enabled them to become self financing entities. All this was done and still is being done alongside discussion and planning for Community led WASH interventions. Through this approach neighborhood units were also able to reach out and support ailing and elderly neighbors that didn't have sanitation facilities. The units also became and are still pressure groups to ensure everyone in that neighborhood is applying good sanitation and hygiene practices.

The practice worked during the WASH and Learn program and now these organisations still working with Simavi have transferred the practice to the Northern part of Uganda (Agago).

I am attaching a demonstration picture depiction of the community Monitoring approach. It has 10 households or more in a neighborhood who are brought together at the meeting place by common health, economic, security and development needs. They discuss, plan and implement as well as monitor the situation in their own neighborhood. This in the WASH sector sustains WASH investments and efforts. What is missing in the picture but happens in this approach is the linkage to local governments who benefit from the community vigilance in sustaining WASH efforts but also support the approach by following up on the activities in each unit.

For more reading visit causeeffectinitiative.org/home/

Thank you, Linda, for such a great insight on the use of Nyumba Kumi initiative to achieve sustainable CLTS. Here in Kenya, we also use the Nyumba Kumi initiative and ensure the village sanitation committees (VSCs) comprises of the village elder. this helps in community entry, social mobilization especially during triggering, Follow Up mandona (FUM)and dialogue days. we use them as sanitation champions together with the Kenya national security administrative units and the commissioners being good ambassador who support sanitation and delegate the responsibilities to lower units at community level.

Dear Linda,

Thank you for your post highlighting the impact of CLTS in your project. You mentioned that the project run from 2016 to March 2019. Looking back, now that it is a year later:
- Would you say that the Nyumba Kumi Initiative is still embraced by the community and there was behaviour change?
- Any take homes for projects that would want to take this approach?
- I believe there was some financial input by the partners to support the approach. Was the financial investment commensurate to the impact anticipated?

Looking forward to your response.

Regards
Charlotte

In post independent Tanzania during the President Nyerere regime alongside interventions like Ujaama was the Nyumba Kumi (10 households) Approach which was used for community policing. It upheld the principles of each community member being a keeper of the other.
Today CLTS continues facing backslides long after places are declared open defecation free. The Nyumba Kumi approach has a mechanism by which after CLTS interventions have been made they are sustained. This is done by zoning out 10 to 20 households and clustering them to monitor each other's hygiene and offer support where necessary to ensure hygiene is maintained.
During the WASH and Learn East Africa Program implemented by Simavi Netherlands and Aqua for all with 6 partner organisations from 2016 to March 2019. The approach was experimented with by EMESCO, HEWASA and JESE, and it yielded results with zoned neighborhoods monitoring their own hygiene, advocating for hygiene and connecting with the local government in this regard. The clustered communities also created hygiene promoting activities that had economic benefits for themselves such as making and marketing soap and briquettes.
In a community partnership become a core factor in sustaining initiatives therefore Nyumba Kumi proves to be Effective.